When God tells us to slow down, His message can be overwhelmingly direct. For me, the communication came in the form of a broken ankle. Caution: Beware of taking little black dogs for walks on dark, rainy nights! (Don’t worry – the dog is fine.)
The first week after my fall I was relatively miserable. This was followed by an unwanted (although necessary) surgery of a plate and six screws being placed into my right ankle. Altogether, I was forced to completely halt my life for almost an entire month.
Now, I don’t do inactivity well. Somehow I was able to get my school work done and did not miss even one class. But, that is all I did. No time was given to my internship. I did no cooking or cleaning. Basically, I laid on the couch with my foot elevated and iced down while reading and watching old movies. I was at the mercy of my family for every need I had.
Read the rest…
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
A new year is upon us and, as is often the custom, many of us reflect upon the past year as we look to the new. A word of encouragement to those who might be looking back or forward toward continued personal physical or emotional pain: All of us can begin this new year with hope—a hope that is based, not upon results or an outcome, but which is anchored securely in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is our hope.
The Bible tells us that those who come to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). To discover God’s mercy and grace (Heb. 4:16), we must come to His “throne of grace” in earnest prayer, daily seeking his face.
This year, each day, let’s just do it!
~ Karilee Hayden
“In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you”. . . (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NAS)
All of us, at one time or another, have been challenged by this verse, haven’t we—because during tough times, we just don’t feel like giving thanks!
Halfway through our daughter’s 20-year rebellion, I suddenly woke up to the fact that the majority of my thoughts were being focused on my problems: my fears for Wendi’s future—my frustrations with her poor choices—my feelings of personal parenting inadequacies—my struggles to help our daughter see God’s love and desires for her. At that particular moment in life, God had gotten my attention (through His Word) that He wanted me to find ways to be thankful to Him . . . to look for and appreciate the many good things currently present in my life . . . to discover the hope and joy and peace of a having thankful spirit . . . to thank and praise Him even when I didn’t feel like it (read pages 156-159 in Wild Child, Waiting Mom to see how God led me into a daily “two-mile-walk-of-praise”).
The Bible says that being thankful is not only important for our emotional and spiritual well-being, but the exercise of thankfulness—even in the hardest of times—is essential in our relationship with Christ, and an integral ingredient of personal spiritual growth. Praising God in tough times draws us more deeply into His magnificent love and generates a precious reliance of trust and rest in His sufficiency for all our needs. Read the rest…
Recently my daughter and I met a beautiful young lady and her mother for coffee. This young woman has chosen the path of recovery at a young age and her eyes sparkled with hope—a newfound hope in Christ. I was praising God for the amazing things I saw in her life. These are the moments I enjoy the most. She came however with a pointed question for me. It is a question asked many times by others in the recovery process; and in fact it’s a question that has settled in my heart since my own abusive circumstances: “Why did you stay so long with your abuser?”
Why, indeed? It seems, sadly, to be a question too many have had to ask regarding the abused woman. Why does she stay? Can’t she see that he will never change? What in the world is wrong with her? Read the rest…
My soul is . . . very vexed; but thou, O LORD, how long? (Psalm 6:3)
When our daughter Wendi became pregnant at age 16, Dan and I found ourselves thrown into a life-situation we were totally unprepared for. A death-grip of the world, the flesh, and the devil had seized our daughter’s heart and began to squeeze the very life out of her. Emotional pain such as we had never experienced before sucked the joy out of life. Peace seemed elusive. Instead, sorrow, fears, and even moments of despair clung to us like smelly wet garments. Nine months later her beautiful boy was born and placed up for adoption. With broken hearts we continued our prayer vigil for Wendi and hoped for a new dawn in our storm.
What a long, agonizing year! Would the experience of bearing a child be Wendi’s wake-up call? Would her heart turn back to the Lord as she faced this heart-rending consequence of her rebellious heart? Ah, no . . . another spiral downward would cast her into a level of drugs and alcohol that nearly destroyed her. Where are you, God? I thought you cared! Please hear our cries. How long, O Lord, how long?
God did answer our prayers. But His timetable was different than ours. Read the rest…
